Why this Minnesotan will be mailing my Republican Governor a nickel tomorrow

[Bjorn Against]

I have lived in Minnesota my whole life, and never before have I witnessed a tragedy like yesterday's. Today I have been sitting on the internet frequently checking to see if they have released any of the names of those who are dead or missing yet hoping that I won't see the names of any of my neighbors or friends. But I know that 35W is one of the most busy freeways in the state, and I know that many of the Minnesotans I have grown to love over the years travel that road on a daily basis.

Today I think every resident of the Twin Cities area is feeling a little bit of fear because we don't know who is laying at the bottom of the Mississippi River, and we fear that the news that is yet to come will be even more difficult to take than what we have already witnessed.

Those of us who grew up in this state were very privileged. We lived in a state where people took care of one another. We had some of the best social services in the nation, some of the best health care in the nation, some of the best education in the nation, and yes some of the best roads in the nation.

But lately we have watched our great state fall apart. We have a Republican Governor who has been so adamantly anti-tax that he has been willing to sacrifice all the things that have made Minnesota a great state to live in.

Just a few months ago we watched this man veto a transportation bill because it contained a five cent a gallon increase in the gas tax in order provide for better transit and repairs to our crumbling infrastructure.

Today when us Minnesotans reach down into our pockets to pull out some change we will look at the nickels we pull out and think that if we would have spent that extra nickel at the gas station that maybe this problem would have been taken more seriously. The nickel that I will very likely end up throwing into my penny jar and not touch for months or years to come could have been used to save lives, yet the Republicans beat themselves on the chest bragging about how they saved that nickel for us taxpayers.

You know what I want to say to the Republicans? I don't want that nickel, I want that bridge back. I only wish I could have the people who are currently laying underneath that bridge back as well. But I can't have them back, because the Republicans have decided that our nickels are more important than our safety.

No one that I know of thought that the 35W bridge was dangerous, but we were proven wrong and now we just hope pray that we won't be proven wrong again and we hope that all the other bridges we drive over are safe. We hope they are safe, but we know that as long as we have those extra nickels in our pocket we can not have as much confidence that they really are safe.

I want Governor Pawlenty to have that nickel that he saved me on my morning commute. That is why tomorrow morning I will be mailing him a nickel. If he is so proud that he saved me a nickel, well then he can have my nickel I don't want it. I want him to look at that nickel and realize the loss of life that nickel represents. I want him to look at that nickel and think about the bodies at the bottom of that river, I want him to look at that nickel and I want him to think about all the rescue workers who risk their lives swimming in a polluted river and trying to avoid sharp debris while the current pulls them. And I want him to think about all the families right now who are in a state of emotional wreck because of the nickel that he saved them.

Tomorrow I will be mailing my nickel, I would encourage everyone else to do the same.

[Rick Myers]

1. I just dug out my nickel...

Will do...

Rick

St. Louis Park

[derby378]

2. WHY are you mailing cash to Republican Bushbot ass-kissers?!?

Good grief. If you're so eager to get rid of your nickels, mail them all to me. At least you know I'll put them to good use...

:hi:

[Rick Myers]

5. I'll put a sticker on it "Payable only to the General Fund, Minnesota"

:toast:

But if you want, I'll send you a nickel too...

[Dr.Phool]

11. Good, otherwise he'll think it's a campaign contribution.

[dickbearton]

68. Why did you people vote for him...

Why would you vote for a Republican after Katrina?

[derby378]

81. Was that addressed to me?

I voted straight Democratic in Texas.

[rurallib]

3. Address for us out of staters?

[Bjorn Against]

4. Here you go...

Office of the Governor
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155

[IChing]

15. Thanks for your idea, address and thread. n/t

[ooglymoogly]

39. thanx for the address

I like the idea of printing ONE NICKEL IN BOLD PRINT on the top of the check and using a check printer to make the point clearer....like the suggestion of another poster to make payable to the general fund and will add "to make up for the Governors stinginess that has caused precious lives to be lost".

[oldtime dfl_er]

6. Great idea, but how about writing a check

for a nickel? Not likely they'd actually cash that.

[DemBones DemBones]

14. I like that. It would cost them to cash checks for 5 cents!

Checks are bigger, too, and would make a nice pile on somebody's desk.

[scarletwoman]

7. Awesome! Beautifully said! As a fellow Minnesotan, I'll be mailing my nickel tomorrow.

Vote to recommend -- reading your post is the best I've felt since the news of the bridge collapse broke yesterday.

Thanks for a totally excellent idea!

sw

[Rick Myers]

8. Here's my note to accompany the nickel.

Governor Tim Pawlenty:

Thank you very much for vetoing the Transportation Bill last week. I can’t afford to join you at the George W. Bush fundraiser for Norm Coleman, but I thought I’d pass along a contribution to the State’s General Fund. How much does a new bridge cost?

Sincerely,





Rick Myers
Taxpayer (and your employer)

[Cha]

16. Good one, Rick..

Thanks from a New Yorker!

[northernsoul]

31. Nice one, Rick!

tip o' the cap to you, my friend!

[B Calm]

9. Can you have a recall election in Minnesota?

[liberal N proud]

10. Great idea - let's see if we can get everyone on board with this

We have had flower campaigns and letter writing campaigns. What is one more, it will cost you a nickle and a stamp.

PERFECT message!

[babylonsister]

12. Thank you. Something has got to change. Your city provided the wake-up call, I hope. nt

[Maru Kitteh]

13. K&R. Our daughter just moved to MSP a couple months ago & works near the bridge

We were absolutely frantic. I was so scared. God I was scared.

I'll put my nickel in too.

[Rick Myers]

19. We recieved calls from concerned friends and family until after midnight.

My best friend's wife's mother called them from INDIA after seeing it on the BBC!!!

[Kip Humphrey]

17. I remember that bridge being built. I don't live there anymore, but am a Minnesotan thru and thru..

My nickel goes to Pawlenty tomorrow.


Governor Pawlenty
Office of the Governor
130 State Capitol
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155

[eridani]

20. By virtue of being related to THE Humphrey?

We could use more like him these days.

[Kip Humphrey]

63. Sorry... Unless 6th cousin counts. Born & raised in Plymouth

[ladym55]

18. What a powerful post ...

It needs to be read far and wide.

We ALL need to understand that taxes provide us with government SERVICES. Those SERVICES are important.

Minnesota is a great state filled with terrific people. Our hearts go out to Minnesotans.

[badgerpup]

21. Make sure you write HAND STAMP on the envelope

...unless you are using one of the fancy padded ones.
Coins and overly thick envelopes tend to screw up the machinery in the post office...and they don't need any more excuses. :eyes:

[Bjorn Against]

22. Good advice, thanks n/t

[myrna minx]

23. Thank you for perfectly describing how I feel.

Hell, the general fund can have my whole change jar. What I wouldn't do to have the members of our community back. :cry:

I am so proud of our rescue workers, divers, EMTs, Fire, Police, and everyone who responded to this tragedy. I am also so proud of the citizens who jumped in to help, without hesitation. I am proud of the U of M students who ran to the scene to help. I am proud of the citizens to showed up in canoes to help rescue those stranded and afraid. THAT is the spirit of Minnesota. It is so astonishing that our once heavenly state would have to be reduced to possibly setting up a "coinstar" change kiosk for Minnesotans to donate to the general fund to maintain our infrastructure. :cry:

[Bjorn Against]

24. Alright, I am on my way out the door to buy stamps now.

The nickel will be in the mail within minutes along with this note.

Dear Governor Pawlenty,

You saved me a nickel on my commute to and from work and insisted you were doing us all a favor by not investing in our transportation system. Now there people at the bottom of the river and we don't know who they are. We don't know if they are our friends or our neighbors, we are just waiting and worrying.

Somehow this five cents savings does not seem worth it to me. I will give you your five cents back, I just wish you could give me 35W and the people who were on it back.

Sincerely,

XXXXXXX

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. Great post

[PoconoPragmatist]

26. Fuck, Gimme The Address!! I'm Not A Minnesotan, And I'll Mail Him A Fuckin' Nickel, Too!!

This is a great idea!!

Incidentally, so you know where this is coming from...I live in Pennsylvania, and just spent the last 2 years unemployed...just today, I finally managed to land a part-time job!! And I will send Gov. Pawlenty a nickel, happily.

I've been on disability the last year and a half, due to chronic acute depression, brought on by my lack of financial security - and been in therapy and on meds for this...I'm finally now back to a point where I feel able to go back to work part-time, and give up my disability payments, while retaining the medical benefits under the MAWD (Medical Assistance for Workers with Disabilities) Program in my state.

This will provide me a way to transition back to full-time employment, and, still allow me to continue receiving treatment for my condition, so that I do not backslide...and I thus work myself off the system, and become, once again, self-sufficient.

The beautiful part of this particular job is that my new employer is a friend of a friend (which is how I met this person, and got the job in the first place!) - sucks that, being a transgender person, I couldn't just get a job like most folks without worrying about discrimination, but, in this case, the employer in question has two transgender relatives, so I've nothing to worry about...BUT, I have been in school for Medical Transcription, with the intent to launch my own business, and this person is well aware of my intentions on this point. The job is an answering service that answers for a lot of doctors, which will give me a chance to network with them, once I AM ready to launch my own business...and they will have had a chance to get to know me and my professionalism, through my work of answering their calls!

So this is like a total win/win for me!

At any rate...give me that address, I'll gladly send along my nickel...and will even post back here to let you know I sent it!! but so you understand exactly where this nickel is coming from - from someone who has not seen a whole hell of a lot of nickels in the past couple of years!! And if my nickel would have saved lives, hell, I don't want the nickel, either, Gov. Pawlenty can have it...and I'm not even FROM minnesota, in fact, i've not yet even had the pleasure of setting foot in Minnesota...yet I'll happily give my nickel.

I think you should start a campaign. Make sure plenty of people send nickels to Gov. Pawlenty...make sure the point gets driven home in a way that cannot possibly be missed.

ON EDIT: I wrote before I read the thread. I see the address. My nickel goes out today, with a note to gov. Pawlenty, letting him know just where that nickel comes from.

[myrna minx]

27. Your kind support is cherished.

I am so happy that you were able to find decent employment in an atmosphere of understanding rather a hostel environment. I have a TG friend, and I know that it's always a challenge to find employment let alone understanding. :hug:


If you enjoy goth/glam/metal, here's a link to a TG band from Minneapolis.

http://www.myspace.com/atph

http://www.prettyhorses.net/

[PoconoPragmatist]

29. Thank You.

Your support is appreciated. and read my next post...my accompanying letter to the Governor, which will be sent with my nickel taped in the upper right hand corner.

[northernsoul]

32. right on, PP!

Good luck with the new job!

:pals:

[lebkuchen]

35. Gees

I wish I could write as well as so many of you folks on this board.

PoconoPragmatist, you might consider taking writing up as a PT job? MN against Bush, too. You're both very eloquent, and convincing! My nickel is in the mail!

PS My spelling sucks, too!

[PoconoPragmatist]

40. Thanks. And No Problem - I'd Never Miss A Chance To Stick It To A Republican!!

n/t

[lebkuchen]

54. good luck to you in your future endeavors

You have talent, kid!

[PoconoPragmatist]

78. Thank You

My new boss said that to me today, too. she said I was the best first-day new trainess she'd had in years. Which made me feel darn good. Heck, I was just doing my job the best way I could.

Anyway, the nickel went out tonight. It's sitting in a mail collection box right now, outside the Phillipsburg, NJ post office.

If Gov. Pawlenty has the guts to acknowledge and write back, I'll be sure to share the reply.

[PoconoPragmatist]

28. My Nickel Goes Out Today!! Here's The Accompanying Letter

Dear Governor Pawlenty,

I understand your pride in saving hard-working Minnesotans from a 5-cent-a-gallon increase in the gas tax. Too bad it came with such a high price.

As you look at this nickel (enclosed) I want you to think about just how much this nickel ended up costing, in lives, injuries, and property, not to mention the rebuilding of a bridge!

So that you understand PRECISELY where this nickel comes from, I am a Pennsylvanian who has never had the pleasure of visiting your fine state. I am also recently re-employed after 2 years being unemployed in the wonderful Republican economy.

Thought I would share my good fortune with those less fortunate...something Republicans are loath to do. Too bad it won't bring back all those who lost their lives on I-35W.


Sincerely,

Name Redacted
A PENNSYLVANIA DEMOCRAT (you know, the people who actually CARE about people)
Address redacted

[PoconoPragmatist]

44. My Nickel Is Packaged And Ready To Go

It will be dropped in the nearest mailbox on my way out to my new job today. Along with the letter I mentioned. I hope it makes the bastard THINK...and maybe even gives him a bad dream or two. the fucker deserves it....more interested in nickels than people...typical Repuke...well, he can have my nickel...too bad we can't have the people who lost their lives BACK!

[proReality]

30. I'll send him a nickle too.

And I'll send one to my Republican Governor at the same time.

[northernsoul]

33. eff it, I'm writing out a check for $.05

payable to the General Fund. I'll try to write a letter as spot-on as Rick Meyers'.

Northernsoul
St. Paul

[lebkuchen]

34. My nickel will go out tomorrow

ASAP

[TNT949]

36. Why?

Why would you send a nickel to the Governor of a state that currently sits on a substantial budget surplus?

[sybylla]

41. Three words - Media Shit Storm

Wanna help create a very uncomfortable atmosphere for pukes in Minnesota, send in a damn nickel - or a check for one.

[dickbearton]

67. You wont a media shit storm...

Recall the GOP asshole and watch him drown in his own shit.

[Bjorn Against]

64. No surpluses here

Last year they claimed there was a surplus at one point, but once people looked at the numbers it became clear there was no surplus at all. We have had trouble balancing the budget in this state in recent years, and the way they accomplished it was by cutting vital programs. Our state government is not sitting on big surpluses, in fact our state government is being starved by people like Tim Pawlenty.

[whistle]

37. Well said, but Pawlenty doesn't deserve a deluge of nickels going

...to the governor's mansion without the caveat that his days are numbered as governor. The investigations on this bridge collapse must include criminal negligence because Pawlenty appointees to MNDOT to carry out his reThuglicon policies of tax reductions at any cost!

I for one would also like to see the investigations oF Paul Wellstone's suspicious death coming just ten days before the 2002 Senate term elections which resulted in Norm Coleman's taking that seat. "Something has gone rotten in the State of Minnesota!"

[PoconoPragmatist]

42. No, He Doesn't Deserve It...BUT

He deserves to see every fuckin one of those nickels, and think about what those nickels represent, and the lives that he could have saved. do you not understand an opportunity to stick it to a heartless bastard Republican, and maybe, for once, make them actually feel bad?

I hope like hell that Pawlenty gets my nickel and it makes the bastard cry! And I don't even KNOW anyone from Minnesota!

'Course, any fuckin tears that sunnuvabitch Republican would shed would probably be crocodile tears, anyway. All the same, I hope to make him really THINK about what he wrought, and where his priorities should be...and maybe even give him a fucking bad dream or two. The asshole deserves it.

[whistle]

86. I suppose if in fact a reThug can feel any remorse. Good luck and what is

...the mailing address, I'll send my nickel from Florida.

[LibDemAlways]

38. Pawlenty ran on a smoke and mirrors "no new taxes"

platform, and he won the 2002 election and was re-elected in 2006. I think the voters who thought they could have it all - good social services, quality education, access to health care, excellent infrastructure - without raising the revenue necessary to pay for it, are culpable too.

The next time some idiot starts ragging on me about the "tax and spend" Democrats, I'm going to remind the moron that tax dollars, spent wisely, educate our kids, support our infrastructure, and provide vital services like the police and fire departments. Dems haven't been forceful enough in making this case, and the outcome, as witnessed Wednesday, can be tragic.

[abq e streeter]

47. The voters...

as much blood as all these republicans have on their hands, it is always necessary to remember how they got to be in elected office in the first place (and yes , I'm well aware of election thievery by Bushco). "The voters who thought they could have it all..." This is not the first post I've done reminding my fellow DUers that , while of course the Repubs are by and large part of a grand criminal conspiracy, the people that vote for them are the true problem. How to educate enough of 'em to understand what they're voting for and supporting is a task for someone ( or ones) smarter than me to take on. I try to occasionally talk to individual right wingers that I know (thankfully and intentionally few in number---and---maddeningly, almost invariably the nicest sweetest people you'd ever meet). But with rare exception, I've found it to be like talking to a brick wall. I do know that decades of not standing up to the right wing juggernaut by our party has made it much more difficult to counter their propaganda including the obviously now-fatal to those poor souls in Minnesota "its your money" anti -tax shysters...I guess I'm sort of rambling; not the first or last time... Saw a sad but important picture on DU yesterday: a picture of that bridge with the caption : YOUR TAX CUTS AT WORK... Send those nickels, Minnesotans,its a great idea, but if the media doesn't cover it, " it didn't happen". Somehow make sure the media, even if just local, covers the story.

[Ilsa]

43. Please, mail this to the editor of your paper, too! Great opinion piece! nt

[meowomon]

45. I'm Mailing My Nickel Today

Send this out and let the whole world know why the US is lagging behind the rest of the world. Corporations and the Rich are flying in private Lear Jets, Tom Cruise helicopters in to see his family for 1 hour and we,the people, are driving over unsafe road. I cried for the victims of this tragedy. My bleeding heart bleeds a little more for those who've lost their loved ones.

[TNT949]

46. Millions spent on other items instead?

Maybe the millions spent on light rail & museums should have been spent on bridges?

[Lindsey]

48. I'm in Ca. and I'll be sending my .5 today. I've been wanting to do

something. How do these misguided souls think that our infastructor is supposed to be paid for?!?!?!?!?!?!? How? I'll also be sending a letter.

[gatorboy]

49. I've been wondering why museums hate America...

[Bjorn Against]

59. We need light rail as well

Our mass transit system is inadequate in Minnesota, and as a result there are far more cars on the road than there need to be. You reduce the amount of traffic and you create safer roads and a healthier environment.

There are many things we need to spend our tax dollars on, and the problem at the state level is that there is quite simply not enough revenue coming in to fund the programs that need to be funded. Despite the right-wing rhetoric about wasteful spending our state government actually spends it's money quite wisely for the most part they just don't have enough to fund everything, and that is a direct result of the Republicans anti-tax agenda.

[Buzz Clik]

50. I drove through Minnesota and filled up. I'll send him my dollar.

(That's a nickel per gallon of gas, kids; not a nickel per person)

[Bjorn Against]

61. A nickel a day is about what that tax would cost me

It takes me less than a gallon of gas to get to and from work each day, so I sent him the nickel that I saved on my commute today. If this tax had been in effect I would have only spent a few dollars since the end of the legislative session.

Please only send one nickel, because the point of this is to show what a meager amount this really is. Sure you could send a nickel for every gallon of gas you consumed since the transportation bill was vetoed and it would still be a meager amount, but that meager amount being paid by millions of others as well adds up to something at least fairly substantial.

For this campaign though we don't know what Pawlenty is going to do with the money we send him, so I want it to be a meager amount to drive the point home without filling up his war chest.

Return the five cents you saved on the purchase of the last gallon of gasoline, if you want to give the rest to an organization that is helping the victims of this tragedy then be my guest but please don't send more than a nickel to Pawlenty.

[Buzz Clik]

77. I get your point now...

Somebody needs to send him a clue.

[wundermaus]

51. Maybe we should send just a symbolic expression...

( I wouldn't even give him 2 cents )

[LynneSin]

52. This bridge is the same exact thing as 9/11 and Katrina

We have to wait for the body count to recognize that there was an actual probably at hand.

Perhaps if the Bush Administration paid attention to all the memos (including that one sent on August 6th) we might have averted what happened on Sept 11th.

And reports were being sent for years that the storm gates in New Orleans were in need of repair and might not be able to handle a direct hit.

Now we're finding that our bridges are in a poor state of condition but yet our federal government and state/local governments were aware of the issue and did nothing.

How many more people have to die

[Divine Discontent]

53. love it

some aren't getting the point, it's the fact that the jerk gave away safety for pennies per family and thus, something horrible would happen in time, not the fact of giving him money - it's to shame him.

you go!

[blondeatlast]

55. Possibly the post of the year! This AZonian will send a nickel and a note.

And a promise of a few dollars to your D Senate primary leader when the time comes.

I watched as the news broke and all I could think of was what must the people of Minnesota be going through right now.

:patriot:

[AllyCat]

56. When are we going to stop building NEW roads and start

repairing what we already have? Here in the neighboring state of Wisconsin, they are rebuilding roads that were just done in the last few years!!! I can't believe the money we spend on roads but I rarely see rebuilding of bridges. I know we can't be the only two states in the nation. When I visit my dad in SC, I see the same thing: brand new roads in Savannah, GA and Hilton Head, SC, but what has been used as long as he's lived there look run down and in poor repair. I know looks can be deceiving, but I'm sure others see this in their states as well.

And here we spend billions in Iraq for an illegal war and occupation while our country falls into pieces (Katrina, steam pipes, bridge collapses--and this isn't the first one, etc).

I'm so sorry for what has happened in MN. I do hope the rest of the country takes note and acts quickly so this doesn't happen again!

[flyarm]

57. I have just put 3 nickles in mail!! thanks for idea!! and address!! eom

[MasonJar]

58. I hope that your send this to your newspaper as a LTTE. It is very

thought-provoking and heart-rending.

[Bjorn Against]

66. I shortened it up and sent it to the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Here is the text that I sent:

Because of his veto of the transportation bill Tim Pawlenty saved me a nickel on my commute to and from work today. He thought it was more important for me to save that nickel than it was for him to provide a safe transportation infrastructure, and now there are dead bodies on the bottom of the Mississippi.

If this is what happens as a result of my saving a nickel, I don't want that nickel. That is why I mailed the nickel that I saved on my commute today back to Governor Pawlenty. If he thinks that a nickel is more important than protecting our infrastructure then he can have my nickel.

If you want safe roads and better transit then send Governor Pawlenty a message and mail him your nickel as well.

[Blue Fire]

60. Bravo for this great idea!

I'm sending that sonofabitch three nickels, one for each licensed driver in my family. Now, I wonder how we can go about getting those jerks in the Minnesota Tax Evaders League - the ones who yank on Pewlenty's nosering - to do the recovery and cleanup?

Kevin in Detroit Lakes

[Bjorn Against]

62. Did you notice the item they have at the very top of the page you linked to?

A radio ad praising Pawlenty for vetoing the transportation bill.

Says a lot that they would have that at the top of their web page right after this tragedy.

[sandnsea]

65. Excellent post

I hope you have sent it to your local newspapers. It would be wonderful for Minnesotans to show up at the state house with buckets of nickels. We have got to turn this country around.

[wellstone dem]

69. Two more nickels from this Minnesota House

As a lifelong-5th generation-Minnesotan I'll be sending my nickel tomorrow. And as I was reading the posts my 6th generation daughter asked why I wasn't listening to her. I told her why, and she said, "Get the address, I'm sending a nickel too."

[meowomon]

70. My nickel is in the mail

Another nurse at work took down the address and is sharing it with her church. Everyone is mad as hell. I want my country back!

[reckless me]

71. Great idea, but I have a question.

Just wondering if anyone is planning a demonstration for Bu$h's visit tomorrow? Very short notice, obviously, and no doubt the entire city is overrun with all the usual security stuff. . .and of course, the city is in mourning. Perhaps a silent protest in remembrance of those lost might be powerful.

(Edited because I realized my wording was unintentionally insensitive.) Southern Wisconsin Dem.

[leaninglib]

72. Save you nickel.and write Congressman and Senator instead.

Imagine how many bridges could be repaired if we weren't building bridges to nowhere in Alaska or digging multi-billion dollar holes in Boston.

[Bjorn Against]

73. Can't we do both?

The more nickels Pawlenty gets the more impact it will have, please don't discourage people as a Minnesotan it is very important to me that Pawlenty is taken to task. He is the one who vetoed the transportation bill, and he needs to be held accountable for that.

[leaninglib]

79. You seem to be suggesting that the people of Minnesota's taxes aren't high enough.

My point relates to the fact that governments (federal and state) already seize enough of the citizenry’s money. But rather than spending that money wisely on needs, they waste the money on pork barrel project and earmarks.

[Bjorn Against]

82. We would rather pay a few cents more than have our bridges collapse on us

Our state government is starved, our education system is nowhere near as good as it once was, we have many homeless people on our streets, we have roads and bridges that are crumbling, and we do not have the funds to fix these problems. Our state is under-taxed not over-taxed. Roads, schools, health care, transit, they all cost money and that is what the anti-tax crowd somehow fails to grasp.

Now on the federal level I can agree a huge amount of tax-payer dollars gets wasted on things like Iraq and Halliburton contracts, but our state runs a much more lean budget.

[electron_blue]

74. I guess it worked. Pawlenty said he will now vote for that tax increase.

Congratulations! Would you now get to work on getting Bush to change? ;)
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=261268

[Bjorn Against]

75. Good to hear, but we are not done with him yet...

From the article you linked to:

"When pressed, McClung said Pawlenty would sign a bill with a gas tax as long as legislators accept some of his ideas for funding roads and bridges."

What are these ideas of Pawlenty's? We don't know, they could be reasonable or they could be a poison pill. He knows he can't veto the gas tax again as that was an unpopular veto to begin with and now it would be political suicide and he would be overturned for certain. We can't settle for a band aid that will allow Pawlenty to run for cover while doing little to repair our infrastructure and improve our transit system.

It is good to see him take this first step, but we need to make it clear that we expect more from him.

[Penndems]

76. What a beautiful, poignant post, MN Against Bush

This is an outstanding idea. Here's the letter I drafted and intend to send:

August 3, 2007




The Honorable Timothy J. Pawlenty
Governor
The State of Minnesota
Room 130, State Capitol
75 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
St. Paul, Minnesota 55155


Dear Governor Pawlenty:

Please find enclosed the amount of five cents, to be put toward the Minnesota General Fund. This coin represents the gas tax increase figure cited in the transportation bill you vetoed on Tuesday, May 15th, 2007 – less than twenty-four hours after the State Legislature sent it to your office for signature.

In lieu of the catastrophic and tragic incident of this past Wednesday, perhaps reconsideration of your decision would be in order. Minnesotans cannot afford any more delays in the rehabilitation of their transportation infrastructure. A speedy response is required by both yourself and MnDOT to avert future disintegration of roads, bridges and tunnels through construction and diligent maintenance.

Your immediate attention to this crucial matter is greatly appreciated, as is your time in perusing my correspondence. My deepest sympathies to the people of The North Star State during this extremely heartbreaking time.


Sincerely,



xxxxxxxxxx
Commonweath of Virginia

Enclosure:
As stated.

[wellstone dem]

80. My letter

The Honorable Timothy J. Pawlenty
Governor
The State of Minnesota
Room 130, State Capitol
75 Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
St. Paul, Minnesota 55155


Dear Governor Pawlenty:

Please find enclosed the amount of five cents, to be put toward the Minnesota General Fund. This coin represents the increased gas tax I would have paid on Wednesday, August 1, 2007, the day the I-35 bridge collapsed.

I would gladly have paid this amount for every gallon of gas I’ve used. Not only would this amount have paid for strong bridges, but it would have meant that I would not have to be afraid for the lives of those I love–and those I don’t even know-each time they drive our bridges and roads.


Sincerely,

[Blue Fire]

83. A copy of my nickel letter.

Do you think it's a little too over the top?

Governor Pawlenty:

Under your watch, a watch that has been closely tended by your handlers in the Taxevaders League of Minnesota, we have seen great degradation in our schools, health care, and infrastructure. While your veto of the transportation bill was not a direct cause of the I-35 bridge collapse and subsequent loss of life, it underscores that under your tenure, the government of this state has turned it’s back on the average, working Minnesotan to appease the elitist few.

As a common working man, I am enclosing a nickel for each licensed driver in my household to contribute to the general fund. Because I want the Minnesota that was the envy of the nation back.

Do you, Mr. Pawlenty, as governor, have the courage to do what is right for this state? Or do you intend on staying the course plotted out for you by the selfish?

Please use our nickels wisely.

Kevin
Detroit Lakes, MN

[Bjorn Against]

84. I love it

I don't buy into the notion that we should not speak harshly in letters to politicians, if the truth warrants being harsh then we need to let them know how we feel. My letter was just as blunt as yours and I wouldn't have it any other way. Good job.

[Blue Fire]

85. Thank You

Now.....off to the post office for stamps!